War Crimes
by BeebleZeeble
Summary: Alanna and Buri go looking for food in war-ravaged Sarain. CW: swearing, violence, implied threats of sexual assault.


It had been a shock, spying the old shack through the trees. When Alanna and Buri decided to scavenge for dinner, neither of them had expected to be picking through any remnants of life before the war.

"We must be close to that town we spotted," Buri whispered. Alanna nodded grimly, her eyes never leaving the clearing ahead. Buri sighed. "I guess the trail swung further west than Liam realized." In an effort to avoid either soldiers or any other scavengers desperate enough to go after a ragtag group of starving children, Liam had been trying to shadow the main road without losing it entirely as he led their little family across Sarain. As much as Buri hated to admit it, having added three extra fighters to their party had taken a large weight off her shoulders. Buri had been content to let Liam lead while she focused on guarding Thayet.

"Or we've lost the trail entirely," Alanna grumbled. Sometime earlier in the day Buri had spotted Alanna and Liam having a heated conversation at the head of their caravan. Buri hadn't exactly heard the full details, but she could see Alanna's face turning red before the knight had wheeled Moonlight around and charged back to her post at the end of their line. Buri had admired the way the young knight could somehow get her horse to stomp away as huffily as Alanna would have. Now, peering through the trees as the evening began to creep over the horizon, Buri wondered if they had been fighting about Liam's choice of direction.

"Looks like a way station," Buri mused. In the clearing ahead the two woman could see what appeared to be a trough with a hitching post set up next to it. The side of the building facing them had clearly been painted once, something bright and splashy, meant to attract a traveler's attention. Although the paint was far too faded for Buri to tell what the design was, it reminded her of the signs that hung outside shops in the bigger cities. If she squinted she could almost make out a plate of eggs- or were those flowers?

"I don't see any signs of life, and the whole place looks too shabby to have been recently inhabited," Alanna said quietly, biting her thumbnail. Buri knew exactly what was giving Alanna that faraway, calculating look. Sometimes, in wars, people abandoned their homes with useful things still inside them. And sometimes, in wars, desperate times called for desperate measures, such as looting an abandoned shack in the woods. But also sometimes, in wars, many people would have the same idea, making looting the shack either pointless or dangerous, or both. But neither Alanna nor Buri had found anything else to eat that night, neither game, nor fish, nor even many plants. And they had found very little the night before, and even less the night before that. They had become desperate people, and it was starting to feel like the time had come to try a desperate measure.

Alanna tipped her head slightly, looking sideways at Buri. Buri raised an eyebrow back, and Alanna nodded. As much as Buri had tried to resist liking Alanna when they first met, they were too similar, understood each other too well. Their silent conversation indicated an agreement: the potential reward was too high to pass up the risk. They were going to bring home dinner tonight, one way or another.

"We'll need to be careful," Alanna warned as she nocked an arrow. Buri silently pulled out a knife, rolling her eyes at the needless warning.

As silent as a pair of owls, the two women crept quickly from the woods into the clearing, Buri leading with her knife at the ready, and Alanna covering the rear. It made no sense to linger in the open: if someone were at home the women preferred having the advantage of surprise, and so they covered ground swiftly. Buri lead them straight to the entrance, pausing to take it in. Alanna stood over Buri, bow still ready to fire at the first sign of movement.

The shack was bigger up close, and even more decrepit. The wooden walls were full of rot, and the hanging fabric covering the doorway was tattered and filthy. Buri's stomach sank: the more decrepit the longer abandoned, and the longer abandoned the fewer resources. Still, they were here now, the clearing as still as when they first spotted it. Buri heard no sounds of life coming from inside, and the filth around them looked mostly undisturbed. She signaled to Alanna, and the two of them slipped through the doorway.

Inside Buri's eyes needed a moment to adjust to the gloom, so she crouched at the edge of the entrance, hiding until she could see again. She heard Alanna do the same on the other side of the opening, although the woman was nearly as quiet as Buri was. _No one can move as silently as you do_ , Buri's mother had told her once, _Like you've been blessed by the Horse Lords themselves_. Thinking about her mother felt like being hit by a jolt of lightning, pain flashed across Buri and she jerked her mind back to the present.

Alanna was standing now, and when Buri looked up the knight raised an eyebrow at her. You ready? Buri nodded once, then rose to a fighter's crouch to asses their surroundings.

This was no small way station, this had clearly been the site of much trade. The building was divided into two spaces, a larger main room and what appeared to be a much smaller backroom. The main room was filled with a tumble of shelves, baskets, and crates. At the back of the room was a counter, and behind that the entrance to the second room. Above them Buri could see a partial second story, a small loft tucked away under the thatched roof, with an open side like a hayloft. Mostly what Buri saw was far too many places for a smart bandit to hide in. The hairs on her neck stood up, as Alanna signaled her to fan out and search.

Just like outside they moved quickly, with Alanna covering Buri as the K'miri woman swept the room for occupants. They found no bodies, living or dead, but they also found very little that was of value. Apparently a once grand trading post, it had clearly been picked over many times. What hadn't been stolen already was now either rotted or ruined by water damage, as parts of the roof had long ago fallen into disrepair. Once they were certain it was actually safe, Alanna and Buri would have to search more thoroughly, to see if they could find anything still usable, but Buri didn't have much hope.

When they reached the back, the counter presented them with a small problem: there was no stealthy way to get across it. It was once a beautiful piece of work, chest-high solid wood and intricately carved with seafaring images. Across the front sailors chased mermaids, and sea-serpents gripped boats in long tentacles. Something stirred in Buri at the sight of it. At one end of the counter there was a little hinged door a shopkeeper might use to get to the other side, but it had long ago been damaged by water seeping in from the roof, and it appeared to now be swelled shut. Clambering over the big counter would be noisier than Buri liked, and would make them both easy targets for someone hiding in the backroom, which was hidden from sight by more faded fabric. Forcing the door might be even noisier, with no guarantee either of them could successfully open it. Alanna shrugged at Buri, indicating it was her choice. Buri frowned, then slid her knife back into its sheath. She was going to need both hands free to climb over the counter quietly. _Why couldn't Thayet have been here to do this bit_ , Buri grumbled to herself as she hoisted her body on top of the counter. She was seldom jealous of her taller friend, but Thayet's long legs would have gotten her over this damned thing a lot easier than Buri's shorter ones. Of course Buri didn't really mean it, and in fact now was more glad than ever that tonight had been Thayet's turn to mind the baby. This situation was far too dangerous for a princess, no matter what the princess in question would have said about it.

Buri lowered herself down as gently as could, wincing at the thumps and grunts she made in her descent. She trusted Alanna to guard her, but the room ahead was dark and there was little Alanna would be able to do if someone fired an arrow at Buri from the shadows. Now on the ground Buri froze, listening carefully as she drew her knife yet again. Her ears strained for the sound of breath or rustling fabrics, for the gentle clunk of an arrow being nocked or the metal snick of a knife being pulled from a sheath. Instead Buri heard only silence, and she smelled even more mildew and neglect than in the outer room. She waved Alanna over the counter, her eyes still on the doorway before her. Alanna tried her best, but she made the same thumps and grunts Buri had. Fucking short legs, Buri grumbled internally. She felt Alanna behind her, and glanced up, eyebrow raised. Alanna nodded, and just as they had before, the two ducked around the hanging cloth, weapons ready.

The backroom was just as thoroughly ransacked as the outer room, with still more baskets and crates strewn about. One wall had been apparently filled with shelves of little clay pots, although now most of the shelves had been broken and the pots now lay shattered in a pile. Buri could see small bits of herbs and spices ground into the earthen floor beneath the pots. Alanna bent to touch some scattered papers, momentarily lowering her bow, and Buri automatically moved to take her place, standing and scanning the room for movement.

Clearing the room didn't take long, as it was quite tiny. At the far side of the room was another doorway, covered by fabric and leading back outside. Buri and Alanna listened carefully, but all they heard was the wind gently blowing past. The only furniture in the storeroom was a small stool, clearly made to match the counter. The legs were also beautifully carved, and Buri could see more mermaids winding their way up to the seat of the stool. She felt the stirring again, and for a moment she wondered if the owner of this place had even lived long enough to see the sea they so clearly dreamt of. This trail of thought felt far too similar to thinking about her mother, and so Buri quickly abandoned it.

After a moment Alanna stood, and they both nodded their agreement that this room was safe. That left them with only the loft above to check before they could relax and begin searching for supplies in earnest. The ladder was in the back corner of the little room, leading up to a fairly small opening in the ceiling. This was worse than the counter as far as tactical disadvantages went. There was no easier way to get to the loft except up the ladder, which meant they would have to go one at a time, head first, into an unknown area. If someone were waiting for them at the top it would be so easy for that someone to pick the first one off, without either woman able to do anything about it.

Alanna moved to the ladder, hanging her bow across her back so that it would not impede her climb. Buri grabbed her arm, in silent disagreement. _She treats me like a child,_ Buri thought furiously as she signaled that she would go first. Alanna shook her head firmly, then gestured to her glowing ember necklace. Buri sighed, recognizing that she had lost this battle. Alanna was going first because she had the Gift and a token from her Goddess, and thus was more able to sense traps and defend herself while halfway up a ladder. Those points Buri couldn't argue, but she also knew that Alanna was going first because Alanna wanted the younger woman to have a chance to run if the worst occurred. With a scowl Buri gestured to the ladder, indicating she understood her defeat.

Alanna climbed slowly, pausing frequently to listen. The shop remained as still as ever, but Buri couldn't shake the eerie dread that had been building in her chest since they had first spotted the old building. She held her breath as Alanna approached the landing, as this was the most dangerous moment. If Buri had been hiding in this shop and spied two strangers coming her way, she would have bolted up to this loft immediately. She could shoot them with her bow from the open side that faced the main store, or she could wait for them to foolishly climb the ladder, and easily decapitate the first head that popped up. The fact that no one had tried to shoot them as they roamed the main floor was encouraging, or perhaps it only meant that the bandit Buri was imagining had no long range weapons. Alanna paused for a moment at the top of the ladder, listening intently and clutching her ember in one hand. Buri could picture how easy it would be to slice off Alanna's vivid head, how brightly the copper strands of hair would stand out from the dark hole they emerged from. They stupidly hadn't thought to bring helmets, or to put on armor. Armor is unnecessary when hunting, and mostly serves to slow you down. However, good armor becomes a necessity when you transition into scavenging, and now Buri wished with all of her heart that she and Alanna had planned accordingly.

Alanna could delay the inevitable for only so long, and so after she was certain she heard no signs of life coming from the loft, she poked her head through the opening. Buri tensed, feeling every beat of her heart thudding through her as she waited for the result, one way or another.

"It's clear," Alanna called back softly, and Buri nearly lost her grip on the ladder in her relief.

Alanna climbed the rest of the way into the loft, Buri scampering up behind her. Once she reached eye level with the floor of the loft, Buri realized how Alanna had been able to sweep it so quickly. There was a old pallet tucked into the opposite corner of the loft covered in ratty looking linens, a small wooden chest tipped onto its side, and not much else. Clearly this was where the shop keeper had slept at night. It stank of mold up here, and Buri could see the holes in the roof, perfectly mirroring the spots of rot in the floorboards below. As Buri examined the meager belongings scattered about, she wondered whether this was all the shopkeeper had owned, or whether it was just what had been left behind. The fine woodwork downstairs seemed at odds with the sparse, priest-like existence upstairs. Buri wondered what it would be like to trade in fine goods all day, only to retire to a shabby pallet under a poorly thatched roof at night.

"What do you think?" Alanna asked softly. While they knew now that were truly alone in here, it was still a dangerous place. Anyone could walk in and take them by surprise, just as they had planned to do themselves.

"We should search as quickly as we can and then leave," Buri said matter of factly. "This place gives me the creeps." Saying it aloud made it real, somehow, and Buri shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

Alanna nodded. "I feel it too. Too dangerous here, and nothing worth stealing. They started eating the ledger book, so I can't imagine we'll find food."

Buri started at this, "What?"

Alanna pointed downwards, "The papers in the storeroom- someone ripped them from their binding, and not all of them were there. I've seen it before, people boil the leather, the glue, and the vellum when they've nothing else to eat. Makes a sort of thick jelly substance."

Buri gaped at Alanna, trying to imagine eating a boiled book. "Does that work?"

Alanna shrugged. "Well, it's all made from animal flesh, isn't it? I imagine eating a book feels better than eating nothing at all, but not by a lot. Fortunately I've never had to find out for myself." Buri closed her mouth, also feeling fortunate for having never dined on book glue. _But for how long?_ Buri thought. _The way our luck is going, maybe we ought to take those papers back with us tonight just in case._

After a moment, Buri realized Alanna was still talking. "But the person who kept the ledger was meticulous, and the vellum I found was surprisingly high quality. Whoever ran this place wasn't your average rustic shopkeeper. Did you see the woodwork downstairs?"

Buri nodded, the heavy feeling in her belly only getting heavier. This whole place felt like something that shouldn't be, like they had stepped through a crack into another realm. Buri sighed and glanced back over the edge of the loft, surveying the desecrated world below.

Suddenly Buri heard something moving out in the woods. She whipped back towards Alanna, whose own wide eyes indicated she had heard it as well. Buri dove for the floor of the loft, making herself as flat as possible. She had expected Alanna to follow suit, and was surprised to see Alanna had instead turned back towards the opening in the floor.

"What-" Buri started to call, then she realized as Alanna pulled the ladder up through the opening, effectively sealing off their little hideaway. Alanna pushed the ladder to where it wouldn't be seen from either the opening or the edge, and then joined Buri on her belly.

 _Brilliant_ , Buri mouthed, and Alanna shrugged the compliment off.

They lay still as corpses, not daring to breathe, ears straining to identify any unusual sound. For a moment Buri heard nothing, and for a brief sliver of time she almost convinced herself that it had been nothing all along. And then she heard the unmistakable sound of voices, getting louder as they approached.

Cold sweat engulfed Buri's body as she heard too many footsteps confidently cross the clearing. Confidence is a very bad thing in a war zone, the only people who moved confidently through dangerous areas were the people who created the danger. Buri began mouthing prayers to all four Horse Lords, _Please let them find nothing of value and then just leave, please let them just leave._ Next to her Alanna had clenched her jaw so tightly that Buri could see the muscle twitching. She clutched her ember stone, and Buri suspected she was praying as well.

The footsteps were close now, right outside the same entrance the two women had used. Buri checked herself again to make sure she wouldn't be visible from the ground floor, and she saw Alanna do the same. They heard a flutter of the fabric, and then the footsteps came inside. This close Buri could tell they were wearing boots, which meant lowlanders. She heard two people fanning out, following the same path she and Alanna had made what felt like an eternity ago. Organized searching meant lowland soldiers. _Please let us get out of here alive_ , Buri begged her gods as she tried to estimate how many more were waiting outside.

The steps moved carefully through the main room, and Buri tracked their progress, barely daring to breathe. Next to her Alanna was as still and silent as the grave. When they reached the counter the footsteps stopped as the soldiers considered the dilemma before them: door or over the counter? Buri expected them to choose as she had, which is why she was so startled by the sudden loud crack of wood as the soldier kicked the little door in. She had jerked in surprise, her own boot hitting the floor beneath her with a soft thud. She froze in sheer panic, eyes wide and staring at Alanna, who was staring equally panicked back.

The sound suddenly ceased below them. For a moment all was still, as all four occupants of the store stopped breathing, listening intently for each other in the eerie twilight darkness. Time stretched out, and Buri felt an eternity pass before the voices downstairs finally broke the silence as they conferred with each other. Footsteps moved into the store room below, and Buri's brief relief at hearing them move on disappeared completely. This was it, would the soldiers see the loft opening, put two and two together, and try to get up here? She and Alanna could probably take out two easily from the loft, but how many more were waiting outside? She glanced at Alanna, who in return gave Buri what was clearly her best attempt at a warm, reassuring smile. _Oh gods_ , Buri thought, _Alanna thinks we're going to die._

The footsteps were now directly under the loft opening. Buri could hear the men quietly discussing something as they examined the ceiling, but they were speaking too softly for her to make out the words. Without thinking, she reached out and grasped Alanna's hand, squeezing it tightly for a moment. Alanna squeezed back just as hard, then let go. _Isn't this what I used to dream of?_ Buri thought. _Going out in a blaze of glory, taking as many lowlander scum with me as I can?_ Those thoughts helped Buri's pounding heart slow, and so she focused on them as she listened to the soldiers low murmurs.

Suddenly, the talking stopped. Buri waited, every fiber of her body tense. A single pair of footsteps moved back towards the counter.

"All clear!" the voice rang out, and Buri sagged in relief. She could feel Alanna doing the same next to her. They were far from being out of the danger zone yet, but at least this first test was over.

Buri counted seven more well shod soldiers entering the main room. They were relaxed, walking through the store as though they owned it. _Good,_ Buri thought. _No need to worry, you're alone here._

Buri heard one soldier stop in front of the small hearth of the main room, while somebody official sounding talked to the two sentries.

"You checked both rooms?"

"Yessir," they replied in unison. _What good little soldier boys_ , Buri thought. From the hearth she heard the sound of flint hitting steel, followed by the smell of tinder going up in flames. A warm glow lit the abandoned store.

"What about the loft?" Buri felt her stomach drop out again.

"There's no way up there sir, they probably broke down the ladder and used it for kindling ages ago," one soldier replied. Buri breathed.

"Speaking of," another soldier called out. "Look at this fucking thing I found in the back." Footsteps strode out of the storeroom and back into the group at the front. Buri heard the men laugh as they beheld whatever it was the soldier had found.

One said hesitantly, "Oh, I think it's kinda nice, never seen fish ladies afore," but his soft voice was quickly drowned out by jeers from his fellow soldiers.

"'Oh, I think it's kinda nice'," the stool's finder repeated, in a high mocking falsetto. Suddenly Buri heard the sound of wood snapping again and she guessed that the soldier had snapped the stool's ornate legs over his knee. A moment later she heard fresh wood hit the fire.

"Now don't you cry about some fucking ugly kindling," the soldier snarled. "Go out and find us some more wood for the fire, or it'll be you I throw in next."

Buri felt her heart squeeze as the stool got burned up; it was really a pity to destroy something so beautiful just for firewood. It didn't surprise her in the least these lowlanders couldn't appreciate the fine artistry of the stool, but it did surprise her that she mourned for it. It had been such a long time since she had seen something that was beautiful just for the sake of it, Buri realized.

While the men below them talked loudly and stomped around, Alanna risked sliding closer to Buri. "We need to plan our escape," Alanna whispered into Buri's ear, so soft that even Buri had trouble hearing her. Buri nodded. While she wouldn't mind going out in blaze of glory if she had to, she also wasn't foolhardy. There were things soldiers did to women that they found, things Buri wanted no part in. Death was one thing, being violated was another.

"Can we wait them out?" Buri whispered back, equally softly. She listened to be sure the men downstairs were still moving about and talking. Buri was confident the soldiers wouldn't have been able to hear them anyways, but she wasn't about to take chances.

Alanna frowned, thinking. "Not for very long. We have no food, no water, and the others will surely start looking for us if we don't return tonight."

Buri nodded, a new fear gripping her heart as she imagined Thayet blithely walking into this nest of vipers, searching for Buri. She thought seriously for a moment, then whispered back to Alanna, "How many do you think we could kill before they get to us?"

Alanna thought for a moment, while Buri listened to the conversations below. Someone had started cooking dinner. Whatever dinner was, it smelled like the breath of a man deep in his ale, but Buri was too hungry not to be jealous, regardless of the smell. Finally Alanna replied, "I think we could kill all nine if we were very, very lucky, and if they were very, very stupid. But I'd rather not go that route if we can avoid it."

Buri raised an eyebrow, surprised at the knight's hesitance.

"It's messier. And we'd have to kill them all, absolutely no survivors, or they might tell others that we're out here. I'd much prefer to sneak out without them ever knowing we were here," Alanna explained.

Alanna's logic made sense to Buri, and she reflected on their circumstances, rolling ideas over in her mind. "How quietly do you think you could replace that ladder?"

Alanna grimaced. "Not very, that thing was heavy. But I can make us a rope out of those linens. Much quieter." Alanna gestured back towards the pallet with her thumb.

"What if we wait until they go to sleep, then climb down and sneak out the back?"

"You aren't worried about sentries?" Alanna asked.

Before Buri could answer, a voice shouted over the din downstairs. "Look what I found!"

The soft spoken soldier from before had returned, and this time Buri could hear that he was not alone. His boots strode across the main room, and behind him Buri heard two pairs of bare feet shuffling after. The men had gone silent, apparently starring at whoever it was that had been brought in. Buri heard someone softly sobbing and her heart began to pound.

"Well, well, well," the officer purred. "Looks like we are going to have some fun in this hovel after all". The sobbing got louder, and Buri could stand it no more. She pushed herself up, just enough that she could see over the lip of the loft and down into the main room. It was a risk, but just as she was hoping, everyone was too focused on the strangers to take notice of her. The soldiers were relaxing by the fire, save the officer and the soft spoken one. The officer was busy stroking the cheek of a bedraggled woman, leering into her face. The woman sobbed helplessly, quaking in her rags. Behind her, the soft spoken soldier had a firm grip on far too young of a girl.

Buri dropped silently back down to the floor, feeling cold spreading all over her body.

Alanna leaned in and whispered, "What's happening?"

Buri felt the cold turn into numbness, and she heard herself respond, "There's been a change in plans."

* * *

It was well past dark now, and the soldiers supper was long over. Surely Coram, Liam, and Thayet were worried, and would start looking for them at any moment. Their original plan was still the best course of action: wait until the soldiers were asleep or distracted, then climb down and run out the back door. Realistically there was nothing they could do about the woman and her daughter, this was a war, and bad things happened during war. There were probably many more women just like the one downstairs, all over the country, and there would be more after this woman. But as much as they tried to convince each other all this was true, Alanna and Buri both knew neither of them were capable of leaving the woman to her fate.

"So we kill the soldiers?" Buri asked.

"Yes, and we kill them all. None can be left to talk about this to anyone else," Alanna whispered back. "We just need to wait for the right time." Buri prayed now that one of the soldiers had some liquor on him, enough to get everyone feeling all warm and stupid.

While Buri and Alanna plotted, the soldiers had been toying with the woman, and the sound of it was making Buri sick. They threw her across their laps, grabbed at her body, and described in great detail what they were going to do to her later. Her little girl sat on the floor, frozen like a spooked deer, and silent as a ghost.

Suddenly the officer called out, "Now don't think you're just going to have all the fun, oh no." Buri's stomach dropped out, and she felt Alanna tense next to her.

The woman was silent in response, as she had been for a while. Alanna very carefully pushed herself up onto her knees, and reached for her bow. Buri felt like time was stretching out again, whole eternities passing by in the long minutes of silence as the soldiers and the four women in the room, seen and unseen, waited to see what the officer was going to do next.

"Oh no," repeated the officer "It would be selfish of you to keep us all to yourself, especially when you have a fine young beauty here." The girl let out a surprised yelp, and Buri heard the woman take a sharp breath. Alanna nocked an arrow, her face a mask of pure fury.

"You are not going to touch my daughter," the woman hissed. The men all laughed in response, and Buri felt her own face go hot with rage.

"And what are you going to do about it, miss?" the officer snarled back.

"Now," Alanna called to Buri as she stood, and before Buri even had time to think there was an arrow sprouting from the officer's neck.

Alanna had dropped back down to the floor of the loft and was nocking her second arrow before the soldiers even seemed to realize what was happening. Up Alanna popped again, hitting a second soldier through the chest as Buri finally caught up to the events transpiring and began to nock her own arrow. Alanna's target fell with a wet grunt, knocking into the little girl who suddenly began screaming, and all chaos burst forth.

Now the soldiers had reached the realization that they were under attack, and began shouting at each other. As Buri popped up to fire an arrow into the one tending the hearth she reflected on Alanna's wisdom in killing the officer first. These were not the best soldiers the warlord had to offer, these were the skinny, bedraggled, last choice soldiers one has when a war has been raging on for far too long. None of these men knew what to do without their leader telling them, and they were panicking. Alanna and Buri used that panic to their advantage, Alanna just barely missing a fourth soldier with her next arrow, while Buri put hers clean through a fifth.

Unfortunately the soldiers began to get smarter. The next time Alanna popped up she never got the chance to fire before she had to duck out of the way of a throwing axe. It was such a near miss that Buri's heart nearly stopped. It was time to change tactics.

Buri could hear soldiers shouting from beneath them now, having finally figured out that their surprise attackers couldn't fire arrows underneath the loft. Buri also heard the sounds of crates being moved, meaning it wouldn't be long now before they started having visitors.

Alanna called out to Buri, "Can you handle things up here?" as she put her bow and her quiver on the floor of the loft. Buri nodded, and strode over to the ladder opening, ready to defend their higher ground. Alanna tucked and rolled off the edge of the loft, landing hard below. For a moment Buri heard only the men shouting orders and stacking crates (moving too quickly for Buri to get a decent shot), so Buri waited. Suddenly they started screaming as Alanna approached them, Buri assumed with Lightning in her fist.

It was a massacre. Any man that left the safety of the backroom was slaughtered by Alanna's sword, and any man who stayed put too long in that backroom was hit by Buri. Soon they had taken another three down, two by Alanna's sword and one by Buri's bow.

In the melee Buri had lost track of the woman and her daughter, but now she suddenly spied them. They had taken refuge behind some overturned barrels, hidden from the worst of the violence. Buri only spotted them as the woman crept out from her hiding place, her daughter's wide owlish eyes peering out at her mother.

"Run!" Buri screamed but the woman didn't seem to have heard. Below Buri could hear metal clanging as Alanna fought what sounded like two soldiers at once. Either Alanna was very good, or the soldiers were very bad, or most likely a mixture of both truths. Buri sent up a quick prayer for her friend, although she trusted Alanna's capabilities. In the short time she had known the young knight, Buri had seen what happened to those who underestimated the Lioness. The final soldier was doing something in a corner Buri was blind to, sounding like he was directly below her. Buri turned her attention back to the woman, which was Buri's first mistake.

Instead of running, the woman had calmly walked to the still roaring hearth, and very carefully she drew a burning log from the fire. Deliberately the woman began walking towards the fight beneath the loft, and unable to help herself Buri took a step forward to keep the woman in view.

That step saved Buri's life, as the soldier below her suddenly thrust his axe upwards, easily slicing through the rotted floorboards. Buri yelped, falling down in shock and scrambling quickly out of the way. The soldier had stacked crates so that he could easily reach Buri from their summit. He thrust again, this time slicing along Buri's ankle. The cut didn't feel deep, but Buri could see the blood already beginning to drip down. The soldier had left holes in the floor that Buri could see him through as she desperately dodged and leapt out of his way. It was the soft spoken soldier from earlier, the one that had liked the stool. At the time Buri had almost felt sorry for him, but that time was long gone now as she dodged his deadly axe. He grinned manically at her, taunting her as she leapt away from him.

"You can't dance forever my sweet, I will claim you in the end," he growled.

A sudden wet noise and and a yelp from below pulled the attention of both Buri and the soldier. _Had Alanna finally killed one? Or did they finally kill her?_

The woman had apparently been waiting for just such a distraction, as she suddenly appeared below Buri, just barely visible through the holes in the floor, and swung her flaming log at the soldier tormenting Buri.

The man screamed as the burning wood bit into his flesh, and tried to swipe at the woman. Buri took advantage of his distraction to swing her upper body down through the hole and stab him through the eye with his knife. He screamed again, and grabbed Buri, dragging her down through the floor. She landed all wrong, with a hard thump on her injured ankle. The pain made Buri disoriented, and she paused for a moment before she staggered to her feet, her knife held out in front of her.

Alanna was now down to one soldier, having run the other one through. Her sword dripped with blood, as did her left arm, but Alanna moved as swiftly and lightly as though she were just practicing. Behind Buri, the woman and the soft spoken soldier were trapped in a deadly fight, the woman howling and beating at him with her burning log, as the man bellowed and swiped at her with his knife. His axe had been knocked from his hand and had rolled away, just out of reach.

Buri lurched forward, ready to end him, but the soldier saw her coming. With a sudden swift plunge of his knife into the woman's chest, the man turned and fled. Alanna was suddenly right behind Buri, the body of her sparring partner cooling behind them.

"Get him!" Alanna shouted, purple fire already at her fingertips as she reached for the bleeding woman.

Buri was off, following the soldier through the curtained back door, and out through the clearing. For an injured man he ran fast, and Buri, sore from the fighting and the fall from the loft, struggled to keep up. He flew into the woods, letting the darkness envelope him. Buri panted after, whipping around trees and leaping over logs, desperate to not lose sight of her prey. He was too far away and moving too fast for Buri to even consider throwing her knife at him, but she was wary of following him too far. What if he was leading her straight back to his main encampment?

That was even assuming she could keep up with him. Buri's heart was pounding in her chest, her lungs were screaming at her to stop, and her throbbing legs were starting to slow her down. The soldier was gaining distance on her, and she was going to lose sight of him soon. Desperate, Buri envisioned the soldier coming back with more friends to find them again. She imagined him holding Thayet like he had held that woman, taunting and tormenting her. _Never, never never!_ thought Buri furiously. _He will not escape, I won't let him._ Suddenly the soldier was no where to be found, and Buri panicked. She should have known better, but her exhaustion and fear overwhelmed her, which led to her second mistake of the night. As she pounded through the dark forest, she didn't see the rabbit hole in front of her.

Down Buri went, hard, twisting her already injured ankle around. She let out a yelp before she could stop herself, but it was too late. The soldier appeared grinning in front of her.

"I almost didn't see that hole either, " he said. "Nearly took my damn leg off too. Well, you live and you learn, or at least some of us do." He pulled out his knife, leering at Buri.

Buri tried to scramble back up, but her leg wouldn't let her. She reached for her knife, only to realize that, to her horror, it had fallen from her hand as she went down.

"Looks like you're at the disadvantage," the soldier said, inching closer. He may have been acting superior, but Buri could tell he was still afraid of her. His face had a red welt from the log, and the eye Buri had stabbed was a gory, bloody mess. This close up though she could see that he wasn't much more than a child, only a bit older than the two boys Thayet was watching back at their camp, and her heart thudded. What might this boy have been if he hadn't been forced to be a soldier?

"You're not quite as comely as that little girl back there, but you're certainly cleaner. Maybe we can have some fun after all." There was a wolfish grin in his voice, and Buri's temporary pity disappeared entirely.

"I'm not fun at all, I can promise you that. Come closer, and I'll show you." She may not have had her knife, but she was K'miri. She didn't need a knife to kill a pathetic little whelp like this. The soldier smirked at her for a moment, his hand moving towards the crotch of his tattered, filthy breeches, and Buri snarled at him in response.

One moment he was leaning over her menacingly, and then the next moment his neck had been shot through by an arrow. He gagged, and choked, stumbling backwards slightly and running his fingers over the shaft. He spluttered as he toppled over and died, gurgling on his own blood. Buri strained to look behind her, the direction the arrow had come from. It could have been Alanna, but it also could have been anyone else. Buri tried to drag herself upwards, and reached for her knife.

"Buri?" Alanna's low voice called out through the darkness. The figure drew closer to Buri, and she nearly wept in relief as she recognized the lady knight. The relief quickly dissipated as Buri realized what this meant.

"What are you even doing out here?" Buri asked. "Did the woman die?"

Alanna shook her head. "She's fine, he missed anything vital. Her hands are pretty burned up though. She and her daughter didn't want to stick around, they bolted as soon as I had finished healing her. I didn't want to stay in that place any longer either, so I came to find you, and lucky I did, wouldn't you say?" Alanna replied calmly, gesturing to the dead soldier before her.

"I had it under control," Buri grumbled, but she didn't mean it and Alanna knew it. A grin lit Alanna's features as she offered a hand to help Buri up.

"I can see that. Care to explain what happened to your ankle?" Alanna asked, her voice warm. Buri began to explain as she slowly limped back towards their camp, leaning on Alanna for support.

 **Author's Note:**

While we love Tammy because she gave us the gift of a medieval fantasy series that isn't just constant rape and violence, she does hint at some of the darker realities in Alanna's world, especially in Lioness Rampant. Alanna mentions at least a few times how dire the situation in Sarain is, including the fact that it gave her nightmares.

I wanted to try my hand at writing something a little different than I usually do, so this is my attempt at a suspenseful, action-packed story. I was inspired a bit by Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight.″ I like the tense feeling you get from different groups with very different agendas being trapped in a small space together, so this was my version of that type of plot. Feel free to let me know what I can do to improve, turns out writing action involves a lot of word repetition and general blocking confusion.


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